Australian man released from Libyan jail

The UN is calling for a mass humanitarian evacuation of people fleeing across Libya's borders.

APTN

An Australian man detained by Libyan authorities has been released from jail and evacuated from the strife-torn country.

The Turkish government said its embassy staff in Tripoli had secured the man's release and evacuated him on a military plane bound for Turkey.

The man was arrested in a Tripoli hotel on February 21. Reports say he was detained for sending text messages about the protests.

Another Australian man detained in December was released last week.

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) has confirmed "two Australians who were detained have now been released".

Turkey said it was also evacuating another Australian aboard a ferry bound for Egypt.

More than 100 Australians have fled Libya since dictator Moamar Gaddafi launched a crackdown on anti-regime protesters a fortnight ago.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard thanked the Turkish government for its assistance and repeated her call for Mr Gaddafi to stand down.

"It's time to go," she said. "It's time to stop the killing of your own people.

"It's time to listen to the voices of your people and the people of the world."

The unrest in Libya appears to be taking a sinister and disturbing turn, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) reporting intimidation and violence against hospital staff and patients.

"We do have credible but unconfirmed reports of patients being executed in hospitals, of ambulances being misused and of wounded people not being able to reach medical care," ICRC spokeswoman Anna Nelson said.

"So we do indeed highlight the need for medical workers to be respected and for the wounded and sick to get the help they need."

Mass evacuation

The United Nations is calling for a mass humanitarian evacuation of people fleeing across Libya's borders.

The violence has triggered an exodus of more than 140,000 refugees to Tunisia and Egypt, and the UN secretary-general says the border situation has reached a crisis point and lives are at stake.

Overnight the UN voted to suspend Libya from its Human Rights Council.

But Mr Gaddafi is continuing to reject calls to stand down, and his forces are trying to regain areas held by the opposition in the country's west.

Rebel forces have fought off elite pro-Gaddafi units who tried to retake the town of Zawiya near Tripoli.

The overnight attempt to take back Zawiya was made by some of Libya's best-equipped troops, the Al Khums force, under the command of one of Mr Gaddafi's sons.

Despite attacking the city from several sides they were beaten back, and Zawiya remains in the hands of the opposition although it is still surrounded.

Stampede

ABC correspondent Tim Palmer, who is on the border with Tunisia, says the situation there is deteriorating quickly.

"It's very easy to see every time we return to the border after a few hours that the problem is magnified," Palmer said.

"The crush of people in the no-man's land between the Libyan front and the actual gate where the Tunisians are trying to process people as they come through... that holding area is now packed.

"At times the press was so great today that there were virtual stampedes at the gate and Tunisian officials had to fire in the air.

"And in front of them was a wall of possessions left by other people who'd dropped them as they stampeded over the barricade. At least order had been restored. The sad thing is once they get over the border, the situation is not much better."

Palmer says the International Organisation for Migration and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) are on the ground and have asked for help in what is essentially a logistics problem.

"What are needed are planes and ships to get these people back to their home countries, and the Egyptians have been protesting that there's been nothing sent from the Egyptian government despite promises over the past few days," he said.

"That's what they're asking for - ships and aircraft. There have been immediate responses certainly in terms of humanitarian aid,[but they're] not saying how that sort of heavy-moving help will come.

"The Italian government have said it's sending humanitarian teams in. The US will send a humanitarian team to each of the borders at the Egyptian side and at the Tunisian side to move people as well.

"But even so, the logistics problem is great because there's no close airport here, and even finding enough buses to get people to a port or airport is a huge struggle at the moment."